Potion
by Dylan S. Thompson
Summary: Bah! I hate Summaries! It's a Lily and Sev story with a pretty unique twist that will come in later chapters. And it has something to do with a potion. Read and Review!
1. Flirtation

A/N: So...I'm starting another chapter story. It's a bad idea, and I know it. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I honestly don't know. Anywayz, I'll just be upfront about it: This probably won't be updated very often. I apologize infinitely beforehand. Oh, and I'd like to thank my beta reader SanchezSlytherinReturns. He's an asshole. And I hate him. Someone do me a favor and go kill him.

Potion

By Dylan S. Thompson

Severus Snape watched Lily's small, delicate hands as she carefully turned the page of the massive, leather bound tome that was lying in front of her. They were supposed to be researching for their potions project, but along the way Severus had become distracted. Severus didn't know when it happened, but he had developed a very unlikely attraction to Lily Evans.

Not that he would ever admit that to anyone...especially her. 'Still,' he thought as his gaze moved from her hands to her face, 'she is incredibly beautiful.'

Almost as soon as he thought this, the focus of his attention looked up excitedly and exclaimed, "Wow! Sev, some of these archaic potions are incredible. I wonder why they fell out of practice?"

"When the Wizard's Council was first formed, they made all kinds of potions and spells illegal. When they were replaced by the Ministry, most of them were made legal again, which is why we can do them. But, by the time they were legal again, almost everyone in the wizarding world had forgotten that they existed. So their newer, easier substitutes were used most." Severus explained, absently. He was still mostly staring at Lily.

Lily arched her eyebrow, impressed. "Mr. Snape, I had no idea you had expertise in History of Magic as well as Potions."

Severus let out a small chuckle, and turned in his seat so that his body was facing Lily's. "I'm not. But, when I started making potions that I wasn't technically sure were legal, I had to do a little research into the subject."

"You've made some of these!?" Lily shrieked in surprise. "But, they're so dangerous! How old were you?"

"Um..." Severus stuttered hesitantly.

Lily's eyes narrowed and she leaned in closer toward Severus. "Why do I get the feeling that you aren't going to say to me: 'Oh, just a little bit this year.'?"

Severus grinned nervously. "Probably because that's not the truth..."

Lily's eyes narrowed even more. "Severus Theodore Snape..." she said threateningly.

Severus winced and muttered, "I never should have told you my middle name. It's caused nothing but trouble."

"Snape..."

Severus leaned back in his chair and threw up his hands, exclaiming, "Fine! Alright. The first time I brewed an archaic potion was in 1st year." And then he braced himself for the explosion.

"WHAT! Severus Snape! That's the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard! You could have killed yourself! These potions are difficult even for Masters, let alone for a bumbling first year! I swear to God, you're lucky to be alive! And another thing..." But at this point she trailed off, seeing that Snape was grinning widely at her. Scowling, she bit out, "What?"

Severus shook his head, his grin not faltering at all under her scowl. "Nothing."

"No. What are you grinning at?"

Severus laughed and shrugged, admitting, "Well, it's just that you're really cute when you get mad."

Lily's scowl disappeared and she blushed slightly. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Closing it again, she gathered her composure and said, "Well...we should really focus on finding a potion to do for Professor Manky."

Severus shrugged again and said, "If you say so. But let's do one that I haven't done yet. I always hate doing a potion twice when I know there's one out there that I could be making for the first time."

Lily smiled fondly at Severus, making him uncomfortable. As much as he tried, he could never get used to being the focus of a non-malicious smile. "What?" He asked defensively.

Lily, mimicking Snape, laughed and shrugged, saying, "Well, it's just that you're really cute when you do that."

Severus looked at her blankly. "Do what?"

"When you give me a peek into the depth of your passion. It's like I'm seeing a totally new side of you. I feel special, like I'm the only one you'd share it with."

Severus smiled a little bitterly and said, "You _are_ the only one I share it with."

"Awww...how angsty," Lily cooed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Focus on the assignment, remember?"

Lily saluted and said, "Whatever you say, sir!" As soon as she said this, she collapsed onto the table with laughter. Severus looked on with amusement as she was overcome with laughter at her own mediocre joke. This was another, of the many, reasons why Snape liked Lily.

A few minutes later, when Lily had calmed down, Severus said, "Well. Now that that's over, you start going through this book." As he said this, he handed a gigantic book with a black cover.

"I'll look through this," he said. His book was a tiny, red thing of about 100 pages.

Lily looked back from her book to his in astonishment, and then reached over the table and slugged him, laughing out, "Jerk!"

Severus shrugged and said, "While you were busy having your fit, I took the liberty of choosing which books we went through."

"Yeah? Well, you didn't have to be such a jerk about it."

Severus grinned evilly and said, "Well, I _am_ in Slytherin." He laughed manically for a few seconds, and then smiled naturally and said, "Look, I was just kidding around. I'll take the big one."

Lily raised an eyebrow at the unintentional sexual innuendo. "Oh? So all those rumors were true, then?"

Severus stared at her blankly, which only made the situation funnier. She burst out laughing again, causing Severus to say, "I'm starting to worry about you, Lil."

Lily didn't respond for a few seconds, because she was catching her breath. When she finally did, she choked out between breaths, "Why? I'm perfectly insane."

"Yeah...that's what I'm worried about."

"Relax, Sev. I'm fine. I just like to find the humor in life where others don't see it."

Before he could stop himself, Severus found, to his utter horror, himself saying, "Yeah, that's part of what I like about you."

Lily's eyes widened slightly and she blushed a deep red. But this was nothing compared to the entire new spectrum of colors that were appearing on the usually pallid face of Severus Snape. The emotions running through his mind were jumbled and almost impossible to put into words succinctly. Severus vaguely remembered wondering what the number seven smelled like.

'Wow,' Lily thought to herself, 'he's finally admitted it. Kind of.' She was about to press the matter, forcing him to tell her exactly how he felt towards her, but she took one look at the mortified expression on his face and knew that this wasn't the time. So, she quickly started turning pages, not even reading what was printed, in order to give Severus a chance to compose himself.

Severus took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself enough to speak coherently. Just as he was about to open his mouth and change the subject, something fell out of the book that Lily was frantically searching through, causing Lily to let out a small squeak of surprise.

"What is it?" He asked, silently thanking God for giving him such a natural distraction.

Lily shrugged. She set the massive book on the table and then bent down to pick up whatever had fallen. "It's just a piece of parchment," she answered, from underneath the table. "But it doesn't look like a page or anything. It looks ancient."

Returning to her upright position, she placed the piece of paper on the table, saying, "Here, have a look."

Severus slid the paper closer to him and leaned over it, examining it carefully. After a minute or so, he said, "Well, it's definitely not a page from the book – it's in Latin. But it does seem to be a potion recipe."

"Do you read Latin?" Asked Lily. As she asked this, she scooted closer to the boy, under the pretense of wanting to see the paper better.

"Um..." responded Severus, who was being driven crazy by Lily's closeness. "No. Not really. Um...I only know the names of some ingredients."

"Can you make out what this says?" Asked Lily, pointing to the list of ingredients on the parchment and scooting even closer.

Severus, who now had been reduced to monosyllables, swallowed heavily and responded with a simple, "Yeah."

"So we can make this?" Lily asked casually.

Severus was on the verge of responding automatically with a nod, but realized what she asked just in the nick of time. "What? Are you mental?! This could be poison for all we know!"

Lily smiled wolfishly at Severus and said, a little huskily, "C'mon, Sev. You're the one always telling me to live on the edge."

Severus looked into her beautiful face and found, as usual, that he had no chance. He was going to agree to do what she said, and she knew it. Still, if he was going to agree to this, then he was going to bargain a little bit. He heaved an overdramatic sigh and said, "Fine, but you can never ever yell at me again for recklessly endangering myself. Because this absolutely tops anything I've ever done."

Lily let out an undignified squeal of delight and wrapped her arms around Severus. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and then said, in a rushed tone, "Thanks, Sev, you're wonderful! But I gotta go: Alice asked me to meet her for something. Be here same time tomorrow!"

And, without waiting for a response, she grabbed her bag and swept out of the library, leaving Severus sitting stock still, with a stunned expression on his face. 'She...just kissed me.' He thought, blissfully.

He sat in this state of total bliss for more than ten minutes before he recovered enough to leave.


	2. A Pretty Unique Situation

The Potion - Chapter 2

Two weeks later, after many a long hour alone together in the dungeons, the mysterious potion was minutes away from being finished.

"I can't believe we're actually going to drink this," whined Severus. "We're going to die and I'll be forever known as the stupidest member of my family. And that's saying something, trust me. I have no idea why I let you talk me into this."

Lily smiled wolfishly and said, "You never really had any choice in the matter. I used my feminine wiles."

Severus snorted in laughter and muttered, "You've got about as much feminine wiles as I have aristocratic charm."

Lily gasped, slapped Severus' arm and exclaimed, "I take offense at that!"

Severus nodded and said, "Yeah, that's why I said it."

Severus, who had been counting away the seconds in his head, suddenly straightened and called out, "Alright! We have ten seconds until we take this off the fire. And then it'll be done, and we can get ready to die. In...four...three...two...NOW!"

Lily quickly moved the cauldron from the fire and cast a cooling spell. She carefully walked to the next table and placed it there. While she was doing this Severus crossed the room and picked out two vials from the supply closet. He brought them back and set them next to the cauldron.

The two students stood together and gazed at the completed potion. "It's times like these," quipped Severus, "that I regret not knowing Latin."

Lily shifted her gaze from the potentially deadly potion to her friend. "Times when you've brewed, with a beautiful girl from a rival house, an archaic potion that could kill you since it's written in a dead language?"

Severus considered for a moment and said flatly, "Yeah...pretty much."

Lily returned, just as flatly, "Oh. Call me crazy, but I had thought this was one of those situations that's pretty unique."

Severus smiled wryly and said, "You're crazy. Last year I did the same thing with Sanskrit and Manijeh Caldwell"

"And you're full of shit."

"And you're jealous because I've made potions with other beautiful girls. What, did you think that I lived in a cave before you?"

Lily raised an eyebrow and asked, "You think I'm beautiful?"

For a split second Severus looked like a deer caught in headlights, then he recovered his composure and shot back, "Well, you're nothing compared to Manni, but you're pretty damn good."

Lily looked slightly crestfallen, and Severus felt the urge to take back what he said and tell her the truth: that he thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. But, she recovered so quickly that he lost his chance. "You're no catch yourself, Sev."

"Ouch."

"Awww, Severus, you know I'm just kidding."

Severus chuckled slightly, and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I was just kidding with you too."

There was a short silence, in which Lily surveyed Severus with interest. He was such an enigma to her. To everyone else he was this brutal, nasty, slimy bastard. To her, though, he acted like a totally different person. He was...nice. And charming. And, for God's sake, he was playful. Playful!

Lily was shaken from her reverie as Severus gestured to the cooling potion. "If this kills us," he said, glaring, "I'll kill you."

Lily raised an eyebrow and said, "That's nowhere even close to making sense."

"Maybe not to those of inferior intellects, such as yourself."

Lily balked at that statement and smacked Severus on the arm. Severus winced and rubbed the spot where she had struck him, saying, "You know, if you keep doing that, people are going to say you batter me."

Lily snorted and laughed. "Oh please." Deciding that she didn't want to waste anymore time, she moved over to the potion and poured out two carefully measured amounts of it into the vials.

"Here," she said, handing one vial to Severus, who took it carefully. The two teens stood silent for a few seconds, neither very sure if they really wanted to do this.

Finally, steeling himself for the worst, Severus said, "Well, I guess this is the moment of truth." He raised his vial in a mock salute to Lily, and then downed the entire contents. Not to be outdone, Lily followed suit, almost instantly.

The two stood in the middle of the dungeon, tensed up for anything to happen. A few seconds went by, and nothing did. Second by second they relaxed until finally they were grinning at each other in profound relief.

"I guess, maybe, the recipe wasn't complete," Severus said through his smile. "It doesn't seem to be having any effect."

Almost as soon as these words were out of his mouth, however, his legs lost all feeling and he collapsed to the ground. He vaguely noticed, through blurry eyes, that Lily had also collapsed and was lying directly in front of him.

Through the haze that his mind had become, Severus thought, "I just wish I'd told her how I felt." And then his entire world went black.


	3. Anxiety

The Potion – Chapter 3

James Potter, a usually laid back guy, was starting to get worried. His girlfriend, Lily, hadn't come back to the common room, and it was one thirty in the morning. He hadn't really started getting nervous until a few minutes ago, because Lily was no stranger to coming in after curfew. Whatever she and that snake Snape were doing for their Potions project usually took them till midnight at least. But she had _never_ been out past one.

James paced the common room, debating what he should do. As Lily frequently reminded him, she was a big girl and could take care of herself. The fact that she'd never been out this late didn't mean that she _would never_ be out this late. Still...James couldn't keep a feeling of dread from settling at the pit of his stomach. He glanced at his watch.

Seeing the time, he let out a small groan. 'Why does this girl have such an effect on me?!' He stopped pacing and threw himself on the nearest couch. 'I've never cared this much about any of my other girlfriends! I don't even care this much about Sirius.'

James stayed laid on the couch for a long time. He didn't realize it, but he was drifting in and out of sleep. At around two thirty a log fell in the fire, and James was snapped to consciousness.

He sat up sleepily and stared into space for near a minute. Finally, he shook his head and glanced at his watch. Seeing the time, he jumped up and started for the door. He knew she hadn't come in, or he would have heard her. And no potion would keep her out this late. He was going straight to McGonnagal, and he was going as fast as possible.

Less than a minute later he was outside McGonnagal's personal quarters. He raised his fist to knock, but hesitated briefly. 'Will she be made for waking her up this late?' He wondered to himself. 'What if it turns out to be nothing?'

But his mind was quickly made up when he thought to himself, 'Yeah, but what if it's not nothing?'

He rapped furiously at the door, making sure that his professor would wake up no matter how deep a sleeper she was. But she obviously wasn't very, as the door was almost instantly pulled open, revealing a very angry, very unkempt looking Transfiguration teacher.

"Mr. Potter! What is the meaning of this?" exclaimed the middle aged woman shrilly.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but I'm worried. Lily Evans hasn't come back from her meeting with Severus Snape. I think something might be wrong." He looked at her pleadingly, silently begging her to not ask anymore questions that would keep them from starting their search for Lily.

Seeing this, McGonnagal nodded primly. "Alright, Mr. Potter. Give me a second to get decent, and then we'll go find her." She shut the door softly. A minute later she emerged looking slightly more awake and slightly more kempt. "Now, do you know where the two of them were brewing their potioin?"

"Uh...somewhere in the dungeons, I think. Near where we have class."

"Alright, lets go have a look."

---------------------------------

A few minutes later, they were in the dungeons. Holding their wands in front of them for light, they searched for the proper room.

"I think I can smell the potion..." remarked James, hopefully.

"Yes...I think you're right," responded McGonnagal.

Following their noses, they quickly came upon the proper room. McGonnagal slowly opened the door, and, while she did, James silently prayed that she wouldn't open the door to a grizzly scene of a hurt or dead Lily. Not surprisingly, he didn't give much thought to Severus' safety. In fact, in the back of his mind, he already suspected that slimy git of doing something to Lily.

When McGonnagal finished opening the door, however, there was nothing grizzly about anything in the room. There was no blood, no broken glass, no gore. Just a fragrant cauldron full of potion and two empty vials sitting next to the cauldron.

"There's nothing here, Mr. Potter," McGonnagal said softly. "There seems to be no sign of foul play at all. Maybe you fell asleep and she slipped by without you noticing.

James considered this for a minute, but then shook his head vehemently. "That can't be it. Look at this!" He said, pointing at the cauldron and vials. "Lily and, especially, Snape would never leave a potion without cleaning up. You know that as well as I do. Something must have happened."

McGonnagal was silent for a moment, gazing at the potion items. "Yes...I suppose you're right. That is very suspicious." She was silent for another moment, and then said, "Well...lets look around and see if we find anything."

"Ok," answered James. The words were barely out of his mouth before he walked farther into the room. McGonnagal followed suit, and their search commenced. After twenty minutes of diligent searching, however, they came up with nothing. No sign of the missing students...and no sign of foul play either.

"As of now, there's nothing we can do," said McGonnagal. "There's nothing here to indicate anything bad happening to Severus or Lily. I know you don't want to hear this, James, but it's entirely possible that Lily and Severus are in Severus' dorm right now and they left all of this in a fit of passion."

James stared, open mouthed, at his professor. Shock and disgust vaulted through his body, and must have plainly showed on his face, for McGonnagal suddenly started chuckling.

"Relax, Potter. I seriously seriously doubt that that's what has happened. But it's a possibility. One among many. So many, in fact, that we're going to have to leave this until morning. If Lily hasn't shown up by breakfast, then we'll start looking deeper into the matter. Until then...get some sleep, boy."

McGonnagal put her hand on James' shoulder, guiding him out of the room. They walked back to the Gryffindor dormitories in silence, and parted ways with a cordial nod. James took his professor's advice and crawled into his bed, but he couldn't sleep. He lay awake all night wondering what on earth could have happened to his girlfriend. Every time he got close to considering the possibility that McGonnagal had suggested, however, his mind seemed to shut down.

And this is how James Potter spent that night. He didn't know it at the time, though he suspected, but he wouldn't be seeing Lily Evans at breakfast the next morning. Nor would he see Severus Snape. And, though the entire staff searched for the two students, no one would see Lily or Severus the next day. Nor the next week. Or even the next month.

No...no one at Hogwarts would see Lily Evans or Severus Snape again until the beginning of seventh year.


	4. Severus Snape: Pimp

The Potion – Chapter 4

Severus drifted up out of the depths of unconsciousness slowly, becoming aware of his surroundings one sense at a time. First came touch; the cold, damp stone floor he was laying on. He could feel his hair resting on his face, and his wand jabbing him in the back. After touch came taste; the coppery, metallic tang of blood in his mouth. And then came smell; mildew and mold and the familiar, comforting smells of an ingredients cupboard. Fourth of all came hearing; faint, incomprehensible murmurs at first, and then, slowly, low whispers that he could nearly make out. Groggily he caught slivers of conversations like _'definitely not students' _and _'Hogwarts robes'._ Finally came sight; he very carefully glanced around, trying his hardest to make any motions he made look like natural dream motions, and took stock of his surroundings.

Five figures surrounded him and Lily, who was laying motionless less than two feet away. They did not seem to be threatening, which was good considering that, in his position, they could easily kill them before he was even close to his wand. He couldn't risk looking up to find out what they looked like, but he could tell by the voices that at least one of them was female. Out of habit, he briefly worked out a suitable plan of action should they decide to attack. It was a dismal plan, but it was the best thing that could be expected out of such a handicapped position.

Severus was so busy trying to think of what to do that he almost didn't hear when one of men said, in a hissing voice, "The boy is awake, and has been for several minutes."

Hearing this, Severus' eyes flew open in surprise. Knowing that there was nothing left to do, he decided to act. In one fluid motion, Severus pushed himself up and into the air. While he was airborne he reached into his robes and drew his wand. As he descended he tucked his legs underneath him and landed, crouched and ready for anything, facing his potential opponents.

To his surprise, however, he found a group of genial faces. There were two women, and three men. All five of them were at least smiling, and one of them, a short, squat, motherly figure, was chuckling outright. Confused, he gripped his wand even harder, and moved himself in front of the still unconscious Lily. As he stared down the five older witches and wizards, he thought to himself, _'If they decide that I'm dangerous, I am dead. I don't stand a chance against these numbers.'_

To his further surprise a tall, lanky wizard with coal black hair spoke almost as soon as he had finished that thought. "We don't think you're dangerous, boy. We're not really sure what you are, but you're definitely not a threat."

This time, Severus was so surprised that he almost dropped his wand. His dumbfounded ness must have shown on his usually controlled visage, because the man chuckled lightly and said, "In case you're wondering, I'm a legilimens."

Severus nodded dumbly and managed to mutter, "Right...that makes sense."

Severus looked from one figure to another, properly taking stock of his surroundings. First he looked at the two women. The motherly one he'd noticed earlier, and then a considerably taller, thinner woman who not unlike Professor McGonnagal. Then he moved his gaze to the men. First there was the legilmens, who gazed back coolly. Then there was a sandy-haired, barrel-chested man, shorter than his the legilmens and the tall woman, but nowhere near as short as the motherly lady. Finally there was the fifth figure, who stood slightly away from the other four, clearly not comfortable in their presence. Seeing clearly that this last man had no power here, Severus quickly put him out of his mind, and turned his gaze back to the other four.

During this examination, the five adults stood silently, waiting for the young man to make the first move. Severus made a quick decision and determined that, for the moment, there was no danger. He nodded towards his wand and said, "I...uh...can put this away, right? You're not going to attack?"

The legilmens, who seemed to be in charge of the group, responded quickly, saying, "If we wanted to attack you, boy, we could have done so while you were unconscious and saved a lot of questions."

The taller woman, who was standing next to the legilmens, lightly hit the man on the arm and said, "Don't scare the boy, Sal. He's just confused. He's handling himself magnificently, given the circumstance."

Severus was about to open his mouth and tell them to stop calling him boy, when he was cut off from a low moan from behind him. Without a second thought, he turned put his wand in his pocket and twirled around to kneel next to Lily. Taking her into his arms, he softly shook her closer to clarity, "Lily, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

Lily blinked her eyes and asked blearily, "Sev...?"

Severus grinned in relief and breathed out, "Yeah, Lil, it's me. Thank God you're alright."

"Where are we?" Asked Lily weakly, trying hard to keep her eyes open.

Severus hesitated before answering, "I'm not exactly too sure of that myself."

"If you hadn't immediately assumed that we were out to get you," interrupted a deep, booming voice that Severus hadn't heard yet, "then you could have asked us where you were and been a little surer."

Severus turned to the voice, belonging to the shorter man, and said, "You're right, sir. I shouldn't have automatically assumed that you were enemies. But...I've just always been trained to expect the worst."

"There's nothing wrong with that," said the legilmens, with a loaded look at the shorter man.

Severus nodded to the legilmens, and continued, "I'm willing to trust you all, but you have to be honest with me."

"Of course we'll be honest with you, young man," responded the motherly woman, "We have no reason not to be."

Severus nodded again, this time in affirmation, and then asked his first question. "What, exactly, is this place?"

"This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the finest school of its sort in the world."

Severus sighed, and responded, "Yeah...that's what I was afraid of. That doesn't help me in the slightest."

He noticed the others giving him quizzical looks and hurried onto his next question. "Ok, what year is it?"

"The year is 1066, boy," responded the legilmens.

Hearing these words Severus' worst suspicions came true. The world swam in front of him, and he felt a little light-headed. "Oh," he returned weakly. "And who are you?"

There was a short silence before the man answered. "We are the founders of this school. I'm Salazar Slytherin; this is Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff."

"Oh...right," Severus uttered, before the shock overcame him fully and he collapsed to the floor again, unconscious.


End file.
